I’m pretty upset after I found out that someone has plagiarised another person’s work today. Perhaps today’s technology allows us to copy-&-paste information from the internet so easily that we have forgotten how much effort it takes the other person to come up with that piece of information to be put up in the first place.

I believe my fellow writers could empathise with the times we crack our heads over our plots and storylines, then coming up with sentences and phrases that best expressed our thoughts and lastly the research that we do to make sure we get our facts right.

It is important to give credits when credits are due. If someone really likes another person’s work so much and wishes to share it, at least seek that person’s permission first and give the credit back to the originator when the work is reposted.

To me, young age and ignorance is never an excuse for plagiarism. The person is taking something that doesn’t belong to him and passing it as his own. It is no different from stealing. So, if stealing is a crime, so is plagiarism.

All I’m asking from my readers is this – if you see someone’s work is being plagiarised, please don’t support that plagiarised story. If you see my works being plagiarised, please let me know. I certainly don’t mind sharing my works as long as my permission is sought beforehand and credit is given back to me.

It can be very disheartening for writers to have their efforts stolen. So, if plagiarism continues, it may come a day where these writers stop sharing their works.

Note: I’ve experienced firsthand how plagiarism had demoralised a team of fans who were trying to maintain a fanfiction website for their one true pairing (OTP). After that plagiarism incident and us being caught up with our daily lives, we finally closed down that website which remains as a pity for me.